The present invention relates to a method and/or architecture for power management generally and, more particularly, to a method and/or architecture for implementing Universal Serial Bus (USB) hub power management.
Conventional power management for USB hubs requires costly regulated DC power supplies, costly monolithic power switching devices and/or overcurrent detection devices. Furthermore, overcurrent detection methods are over-sensitive to transient current spikes.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional USB power management circuit 10 is shown. The circuit 10 comprises a regulated power supply 12, a controller 14 and a number of power switching and monitoring devices 16a-16n. Each of the power switching and monitoring devices 16a-16n are implemented as monolithic devices. The switching and monitoring devices 16a-16n provide power control and over current detection to the controller 14.
The present invention concerns an apparatus comprising a controller, a voltage supply circuit and a power management circuit. The controller may include one or more ports. The voltage supply circuit may be configured to generate an unregulated voltage supply. The power management circuit may be configured to receive the unregulated voltage supply and present a regulated power supply voltage to each of the one or more ports.
The objects, features and advantages of the present invention include providing a method and/or architecture for implementing Universal Serial Bus (USB) hub power management that may (i) provide overcurrent detection, (ii) provide port overcurrent detection in a USB hub, (iii) implement a xe2x80x9cshutdownxe2x80x9d feature of a voltage regulator to provide port power switching and/or (iv) reduce production costs.